Two for the Road
by mysticxf
Summary: Sam confronts Diane about Kate.


Lost and its characters aren't mine, they belong to other people who make money and drive me crazy. I'm borrowing for my own entertainment. Sam confronts Diane about Kate. Written for psych30 #10 Delusion. Giving it this title because, dammit, I really wanted that to be a Kate episode, and it's slightly appropriate, and I hate titles.

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Lost – Two for the Road  
By Mystic  
April 8th 2006

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When she opened her eyes she could see her sneakers swinging back and forth underneath her. They were blue, the right one untied, its shoes strings dragging along the dusty porch. Kate yawned. A pair of chickens clucked their way across the front yard and she sighed, watching them, wishing she had her slingshot, but it was neatly packed away in her bag. Her eyes rose towards the shiny car in the distance, its image waved by the early summer heat.

It brought a crooked smile to her face, made her body straighten slightly before jumping at the sound of Wayne tossing a beer bottle into a trash can and hollering at the television. His team must be loosing, Kate knew, turning her attention to the grey Jeep that turned off the road and crunched the gravel as it came closer, stopping in front of the house. Kate stood.

"Wayne, my dad's here!" Kate shouted, her small voice barely audible over the rumble of the engine. She jumped off the bench on the porch as the tall man in army fatigues stepped out of vehicle and approached the porch. He removed his cap and his steps quickened towards the house when he saw the girl preparing to leap into his arms.

He caught her, felt her bony legs and arms wrap around his body and watched her raise her head to smile at him. "Hey there, darlin'."

"My stuff's just inside," she told him, in a hurry to get as far from the farm as possible. She plucked at his uniform. "We're still…"

Sam nodded quickly. "Yeah, we're spending the summer at the cabin in Washington." Kate grinned, and watched his face drop slightly as his hand moved her wild waves away from her face. "Baby, what happened to your face?"

She turned her head slightly, away from his touch and bit her lip, her eyes quickly moving towards Wayne's voice as it hollered again, cursing at some player she didn't care for. "I ran into a door," she told her father swiftly, a laugh following before she felt herself sliding towards the ground. "Come on, daddy, we gotta get going."

"I need to speak to your mother," he told her, the tone in his voice making her recoil slightly. The man went up the steps and Kate could see Wayne's form rise off the couch through the screen door.

He gave a nod, "Afternoon, Sam."

"Wayne," was all her father said in return.

"Care for a beer?" Wayne smiled, that smug smile that made Kate move out of sight.

Sam shook his head. "Can I speak to Diane a second?"

Wayne shrugged, tapped the butt of his beer lightly against his thigh. "Ain't home."

"You mind if I wait on the porch?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows as his posture straightened. That ramrod position Kate recognized from Army pictures. Some part of her was hoping her dad would do something violent, but he just waited.

"Well, hell, Sam, you can come in and watch the game. Yanks are winnin' by ten." The man gestured towards the inside of the house and Sam passed a glance inward. Kate looked passed the men, watching the old black and white television, watching the man strike out quietly.

"Thanks, I'll just wait on the porch," Sam said, reaching just inside the door for Kate's duffel bag.

Kate watched Wayne shrug, but she saw something else pass across his face and she thought it was fear. She didn't know Wayne could be afraid of anything. Sam tossed her bag into the back of his Jeep and came back up to where she was standing, gripping the old white post that started the railing. He touched her cheek, taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger and turning her face.

"A door," he spat. Kate felt his warm fingers slide off her face and he twirled around, sitting gently on the third step before looking up at her. "Come here, baby."

She moved closer to him stepping between his legs and leaned on his left knee, her hands finding a comfortable spot on his right thigh. "I'm not lying," she told him. She watched the way he looked at her, like she was lying and he was upset. Kate lowered her eyes to her hands on his leg. "What are we gonna do this summer, dad?"

There was a pause before he pulled her closer, hugging her to his chest. "We're gonna go swimming and hiking."

"Climb trees?" She asked, feeling smothered.

He laughed and from where she stood it sounded so much louder, rattling her small body. "Yeah, we'll climb trees." He chuckled slightly before adding, "You monkey."

Kate listened to him talk for a while. He told her what he was learning, and how it felt to fire a rocket, how he went up in a jet and felt sick to his stomach. He told her about his friends, who were bigger monkeys than she was and she laughed while playing with his name plate. Kate fell asleep on his lap and woke on the bench to a loud crash somewhere inside the house.

The sun had gone down and the buzz of the porch light whined annoyingly overhead. Kate sat up, brushed her hair behind her ears and hopped off the bench, her shoelaces tied tight in double knots by her father. She listened, hearing her mother whining about something. Her hoarse voice was barely audible and Kate peered into the house, her nose pressed into the screen door.

"I don't trust him with her, Diane!" Sam shouted suddenly, his hands flying up into the air before he slammed them down and half turned away from the woman who flinched. "You want him. I don't know why you want him, but you made that choice. She's just a kid."

"He doesn't touch her, Sam, I swear."

"And you're about as good a liar as she is," Sam huffed.

Diane nodded slowly. "So that's how it is. I'm just a liar." She cleared her throat. "Katherine ran into a door. She's eight; eight year olds do dumb things like that."

Sam held his breath, took a step closer to Diane and breathed into her face. "I come to get her and she's got one more bruise on her, I'll kill him."

Kate pulled away from the door, but her father had seen her already. His eyes softened slightly as he pushed the door opened and stared down at her. He started to say something, his eyes squinted in that way eyes do when they're close to crying, but he straightened and sniffled.

"Come on, Kate," he said softly, his hand coming down on her shoulder and ushering her towards the Jeep. He didn't have to help her in, she climbed up just fine, clicking her seatbelt and pulling her door shut. Her mother stood at the screen door, her chest giving a shake before she waved her away.

The Jeep swerved back out onto the road and she gripped the door, watching the road. The yellow spots and white lines that dashed by as they picked up speed away from her house. Kate listened to her father cry softly and she turned to look at him, unsure of how to react. She'd never seen him cry. She touched his hand and he glanced at her, unashamed.

"Tell me the truth," he told her gently. "Does Wayne hit you?"

Kate bit her lip, feeling something inside her churning uncomfortably. She shook her head slowly and covered his hand with hers. She didn't know how to tell him the truth. So Kate smiled weakly, and lied.

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Finis 


End file.
